Latin Translation of Basil's Hexaemeron 4.1–4.7

There are certain cities whose people refresh themselves by feasting their eyes on marvellous shows from morning till evening; they also pour into their senses alluring songs and wanton melodies that breed excessive luxury, and, delighted by listening to them for a long time, they are never satisfied. And yet many are accustomed to call those people happy, because, leaving necessary business and the arts by which the means of life are obtained, they spend the time of life allotted to them in idleness and pleasure, busy with vain activities, not knowing that dancing approved by the basest shows provides a public and common school of vices. And lyric songs, the music of pipers, and the songs of harlots, slipping into the hearts of the listeners, what do they implant in spectators who imitate actors but infamy? Some, gripped by a frenzied passion for the circus, dispute in their dreams at night about the speed of horses, now turning chariots, now moving charioteers to another side, and they do not stop turning over in their sleep all their thoughts of the day. But we, whom the Lord, who is held to be the greatest and most wonderful craftsman of things, has called together to the display of his works, must not grow weary of looking at them, nor become sluggish in listening to the words of the Holy Spirit; but, surrounding this splendid stage of the divine work, and recalling past times in our thoughts, let us contemplate heaven raised up like a vault, as the prophet says (Isa 40:22), and the earth, very vast, founded so as to stand upon itself by its immensity and weight; the air, spread out and fluid by nature, supplying fitting and unceasing nourishment to all that breathe, parting for everything that moves and gently yielding through its softness; and water, the nourisher of bodies, established as most useful to the human race, and remaining with moderation in the receptacles assigned to it. That these things are so, you will prove from what was read just now.

"And God said, Let the waters that are under heaven be gathered into their gatherings, and let the dry land appear. And God called the dry land earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called seas." How many false charges you will bring against me in what follows, demanding how the earth can be held invisible when colour is present, since every colour is perceived by the sense of sight! And perhaps what we said does not seem enough to you, that the earth was said to be invisible not in its nature but in relation to us, because of the waters laid over it, which at that time had covered all lands. But now listen to Scripture, how it explains itself: "Let the waters," it says, "be gathered, and let the dry land appear." The veil is withdrawn so that what had meanwhile not been seen might become visible. Perhaps someone will also ask why the word turns into a command of the Creator what belongs to water by nature, namely always to tend to lower places. For as long as water is held in a level place, it is still, finding nowhere to turn aside; but when a slope presents itself, the front part bursts forth at once, and the rest of the mass follows, fleeing in haste, while what goes before is pressed by the push of what comes after; and the flow is seen to be the swifter the greater the weight of water flowing together and the steeper the place. If, then, such is the nature of liquid, the command by which he ordered the waters to be gathered into one receptacle would be superfluous. For it could undoubtedly have run down of its own accord into hollow regions by its natural impulse before it covered the surfaces; for no place of the earth is as level as the surface of water. Then, they say, how was it commanded to come together into one gathering, when we know that there are different seas, which are certainly known to be far apart from one another? To the first question, then, we shall answer this: you came to know the motion of moisture after the giving of the divine command, and that it flows around and always runs downward. For before it took its course from the heavenly authority, you did not see it, nor did you learn it from another who had seen it. So you must notice that the voice of God forms nature, and the command then given to creation provided the order for all that was to be generated. For day and night were made once, and from then until now, succeeding one another in turn, they keep the times of their courses divided in fixed portions.

"Let the waters be gathered." The nature of the waters was commanded to flow, and it never fails to obey the command. I say this looking at the fluid lot of the waters, of which some always flow, like springs and rivers, while others are gathered and still. But now I am speaking of the flowing ones. "Let the waters be gathered into one gathering." If ever, standing beside a stream, you are struck by the thought, considering by whose impulse water comes forth from the earth, or what storehouses it pours from so abundantly, or what place it is driven to reach, or how neither does the water that follows fail nor the water that went before overflow, you will surely find that all this is held by that first word, from which its everlasting flow is also supplied. So in every account always remember the first command, which says: "Let the waters be gathered." For they had to run down quickly to reach their own region, and once they had arrived, to stay in their appointed receptacles and go no further. Therefore it is said by Ecclesiastes: "The rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not filled" (Eccl 1:7). For both that the course of the waters is driven on and that the sea is held within fixed bounds is the power of the first command: "Let the waters be gathered into one gathering"; so that the water that flows in might not, when the receptacles were full, overflow and likewise flood all the bounds of the earth; that is why it was commanded to bring itself into one gathering. Therefore the sea, often stirred by winds, seething with waves and rising on high, when it touches the neighbouring shores, dissolves the force of its surge in foam, and is soon broken and draws back. "Will you not fear me, says the Lord, who set the sand as a boundary for the sea?" (Jer 5:22). For it is wonderful how sand, the weakest of all things on the earth, restrains the violence of the sea at God's command. Otherwise, what reason could have prevented the Red Sea from invading all Egypt, which certainly lies lower, and mingling with the neighbouring sea, had it not been held back by the Creator's command? For that Egypt is lower than the Red Sea we are taught most surely by those who wished to join the Egyptian and the Indian seas, of whom the first was Sesostris the Egyptian and the second Darius the Mede. I said this so that we might know the power of the divine decree. "Let the waters be gathered into one gathering": that is, let no other proceed from it, but let what is gathered be held in the first receptacle.

Then, when he said, "Let them be gathered into one gathering," he taught that there were many waters divided in various ways. For low-lying places, naturally hollowed into deeper spaces, held collected water, and plains too were full, resembling a sea, and other regions of the kind; all these were commanded to flow together into one gathering. And let no one say: if the multitude of waters then covered the whole earth, the places into which the waters were afterwards commanded to run were nonetheless full at that time; where, then, was the water that had invaded all parts of the earth to be gathered? To this we answer that when the command was given for them to come together into one gathering, the means of receiving them also came into being. For at that time there was no sea beyond Gades, nor was there that greatest sea, navigable only by the bold, which washes the island of Britain and the western Iberians; but afterwards, at God's command, a sufficient capacity was prepared so that the multitude of waters might flow together there. Concerning this, since the philosophers say that our account of creation is contradicted, on the ground that water is not, as we know by experience, collected into one gathering, we could say many things known to all; but lest it seem ridiculous to contend with such people (though they would have to object to us marshes and pools and the waters collected from rains, in order to break down the claim of our account by these), let them know that God called a gathering the greatest and complete concourse of all waters. For a well too is a man-made collection of water, the liquid having slipped down into a deep hollow. So not every receptacle of waters shows forth the name of that gathering, but that greatest and most excellent reservoir into which the whole element was suddenly brought together. For as fire is dispersed in small and different materials, giving all a necessary use, yet is wholly contained in the ether; and likewise air, though it has slipped into individual bodies, yet embraces the whole circle of the earth; so the nature of the waters, though held committed to various stations, yet has one greatest gathering, which separates that whole element from the others. For the lakes in the northern regions, or in the Hellespont, or in Macedonia, or in Bithynia, are undoubtedly called gatherings; but now we are speaking of that one which is so much more extensive than all the rest that it equals the breadth of the lands. And although no one denies that there is a multitude of waters in the smaller gatherings too, no one will rightly call them seas, even though certain marshes are tainted with the saltness of the sea, like the one called Asphaltitis in the parts of Judea, or Serbonitis, which lies between Egypt and Palestine and touches the desert of Arabia. All these are marshes; but there is one sea, as those who have travelled over all lands assert. Some, however, declare that the Hyrcanian and Caspian lakes are enclosed within themselves. And since we ought to look carefully at the geography of the historians, let us hear what is reported about them. They say that these lakes, pierced by certain hidden caverns, pour their streams into the greatest sea; whence it is also affirmed that the Red Sea flows out into the sea beyond Gades. How then, they say, did God call the different stations of the waters seas, since they came together into one receptacle? And again all the gatherings, that is, the gulfs that the circuit of the earth encloses according to its shape, are nonetheless called seas: the Northern Sea, the Southern Sea, the Eastern Sea, the Western Sea; and again each sea has its own names, the Euxine, the Hellespont, the Aegean, the Ionian, the Sicilian, the Tyrrhenian, and very many others, whose names it would be too long and laborious to run through one by one. That is why God named the gatherings of the waters seas. But the course of our discourse, passing on, has led us to this; let us return to what we began a while ago.

"And God said, Let the waters be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear." He did not say "let the earth appear," lest he should again show it unformed, as being muddy, still shapeless from the flooding of the waters, and weak; and at the same time, lest anyone should ascribe to the sun the cause of the earth's drying, the Creator rightly established the dryness of the earth before the birth of the sun. For notice carefully that not only the water that lay over the earth, but also that which lay hidden in its deeper parts, flowed out in obedience to the command of the Lord. "And it was so." This addition suffices, declaring that the Creator's word was given over to its effect; although it is reported in many copies of the account of creation that "the water that was under heaven was gathered into its gatherings, and the dry land appeared": which certainly neither the edition of the other translations shows to be so, nor does the usage of the Hebrews express it. For indeed a narrative repeated about the same things after the testimony asserting "and it was so" would seem superfluous. "And God called the dry land earth, and the stations of the waters he called seas." Why was it said earlier, "Let the waters be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear," when it should rather have been said, "let the earth appear"; and again, "the dry land appeared, and God called the dry land earth"? Because "dry" is the form of a property, designating what underlies the nature, while "earth" is the bare name of the thing. For as rationality is proper to man, while "man" itself is the word signifying the animal whose property it is, so dryness is the proper and chief property of the earth. The element that has properly received dryness, then, is not undeservedly named earth, just as the animal to which neighing is proper is called a horse. And this must be noted not only of the earth; in the other elements too a proper quality has been assigned to each, by which each is distinguished from the others and what it is is plainly recognized: water keeps its own quality, by which it is shown to be cold; air has moisture; fire heat. But these, as the first elements of composite things, we can contemplate only with the mind, according to the account given. Those that have slipped into bodies and are subject to sight possess qualities joined together, and none of them can be absolute or simple, since they are grasped by the eyes and the senses. For earth is dry and cold, water moist and cold, air hot and moist, fire hot and dry. And so the power of nature, called forth through these, brings it about that all things are joined to one another by tempered mixtures in turn, and each clings to its neighbouring element by a shared quality, and through the community implanted in each they are mingled with their contraries: as earth, which is dry and cold, is connected with water through the kinship of coldness, and is joined to air through water. For water, placed between them, is joined to both by a double quality, as by the stretching out of two hands: to earth by coldness, to air by moisture. And again air, by its intervention, becomes the reconciler of opposed natures, that is, of fire and water: joined to fire by heat, to water by moisture. And fire, since by nature it is hot and dry, clings to air by means of heat and shares with earth through dryness. In this way, the elements agreeing with one another in turn, a kind of circle and joined chorus appears to be completed. I have discussed these things so that the order might be clear for which the Lord named the dry land earth, and did not rather call the earth dry. For dryness did not follow afterwards, but was prior, since it completes its substance; and therefore it is rightly honoured with the privileges of this name. Hence the earth too, as principal, took the grounds of its name.

"And God saw that the water was good." The word does not mean that the loveliness that shone from the face of the sea seemed good to the Lord in every respect by the beauty of creation; rather, he looks on what has been made with ineffable wisdom. For to us indeed the sea is delightful when it begins to gleam white in settled calm, or when, ruffled by gentle breezes, it shows a purple colour to those who look at it, and when it does not beat the land with violent waves but kisses it as with peaceful embraces. Yet we must not think that Scripture said the sea seemed good to God in this way; for there good is judged not by appearance but by the reason of its making. First, because the sea is a kind of source of all the moisture that waters the earth. It is spread through hidden veins, as rocky and dug-out places prove: the sea water passing through them, when it has been held back by some mountainous obstacles, is driven by the wind that presses it, breaks through the barriers, and comes out into the light, now made drinkable, having laid aside its natural bitterness by being filtered; and likewise it takes on a hot quality when it runs through certain metals, and becomes not only warm but burning. We find this in very many islands and on various sea coasts, and it is known to happen so in inland regions too. Why have we said this? To assert that the whole earth is filled, through hidden and invisible veins, with flowing waters that take their beginning from the sea.

The sea also seemed good to God both because of the course it runs in the depths of the earth, and because it is the receptacle of the rivers and of all the waters that roll into it from every side, while it remains within its bounds. Good also because it is a kind of source and origin of the waters of the air. When it is warmed by the heat of the sun, it gives off its finer moisture in thin vapours, which, drawn up to a higher place and made cold, since they are shaded by the clouds, produce dews and rains. No one will disbelieve this who looks at kettles foaming with heat, which, though filled with water, are often left empty when a fire is put under them; and sea water itself, as sailors report, is said to be boiled down by the rays of the sun. For they catch the vapours rising from the sea with sponges and so relieve the heat of thirst. The sea seems good also because it encloses the islands, giving them no less defence than adornment; because it offers an accessible approach to fleets and supplies merchants with the means of wealth; because many things unknown to the inhabitants of the lands are learned from the reports of sailors; and because a great deal of benefit is given to human life from the sea. For what abounds with us we carry over to other provinces and regions, and from there in turn what is scarce here is brought. But how will it be possible for me to describe the beauty of the sea as it seemed to the Creator? And if the sea is good and praiseworthy before God, how should not the assembly of the catholic church be judged more beautiful, in which the diversity of every age and sex, pouring out voices of praise to God, gives back a sound like the waves of the sea; which, firmly founded in the haven of peace, bears the shaking of no storm of heretics? Therefore make yourselves worthy of the heavenly reward, preserving the beauty of this order in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.